


Evasion and Engagement

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9874061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: Hiyori can’t seem to avoid Yato no matter where she goes, but that doesn’t seem to be a bad thing when she’s in her hour of need.Thank you Gio (the_musical_alchemist) for beta-ing me!Dedicated to Emily (hiyoris_scarf), happy birthday!!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hiyoris_scarf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiyoris_scarf/gifts).



“Puff.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
Yukine directed his attention to the source of the voice that lazily called out to him as he left his potions classroom. Leaning against a pillar opposite the class was Yato, hands shoved in his pockets as his gaze met Yukine's over the throng of first years shuffling around them. Great.  
  
“Do you know him?” Yukine’s friend Suzuha – a Hufflepuff like himself – asked, glancing between the two of them. Yukine’s answer died on his lips, the skittish crowd already parted before Yato as he approached him.  
  
“Puff, have you seen that girl?”  
  
“I told you to leave her alone if she won’t talk to you,” Yukine said curtly, turning to walk away with puffed cheeks. It had been a week since the incident, yet everyday he still came back to ask the same question. Yato gripped his arm, squeezing pointedly on his bruises as if to remind him of his indebtment.

Yukine glared at him but Yato just raised his eyebrows expectantly, clearly not letting go until he had an answer. The first warning bell echoed through the corridor, telling him that he would be late to class if he didn’t get rid of his irritating upperclassman.  
  
“…She has transfiguration with Kugaha before our class together.” Yukine yanked his arm free of Yato’s grasp, arm aching as the pressure on his bruises eased. He grabbed the sleeve of Suzuha’s, robe pulling him down the corridor away from his newfound annoyance.  
  
“That wasn’t so hard was it, Puff?” Yato called smugly after him, receiving a discreet middle finger as a reply as the first years turned a corner before vanishing out of sight.  
  
Yato turned in the opposite direction, ambling to the part of the castle where herbology students should be returning to from the greenhouse. Gradually, the volume of students thickened as they left their classrooms and marched to the next classes. Bustling students brushed past Yato swiftly as they arrived at the cross section of the main staircase.  
  
He followed the stairs down and turned right into a smaller hall where crisscrossing stairwells altered their paths to the different classrooms. Yato caught sight of a group of immaculately robed first years fumbling with armloads of books. He followed them up the lowest staircase, his long paces outmatched theirs.  
  
“Hey, girl,” Yato said roughly, catching her attention as she started up the third stairwell. She turned, a smile still on her face as she laughed with two other students. Her eyes caught his she paused, her smile frozen into a terrified grin. Yato didn’t break stride, halfway up the second stairwell. She suddenly shuddered to life and quickly ran up the steps away from his quickening approach.   
  
“Stop–” he exclaimed, about to give chase as the path beneath him groaned and began to rotate away from the confused group of girls, leaving Yato stranded and the Gryffindor able to slip away.  
  
“For the love of–” Yato cursed, angrily looking away to where the staircase was taking him. The stairs grated against the landing of a new hallway, allowing the Slytherin to disembark and restart his search of the girl that eluded him.  
  
  
~  
  
  
Hiyori sprinted through an empty corridor, her bag smacking heavily against her hip as she struggled to keep the tower of books in her arms from toppling over. Hiyori slowed down, panting as she glanced behind her to ensure that she had lost her persistent stalker. No one. She began walking, her attention still turned to ensure no one hid in the shadows to follow her. With her attention elsewhere she didn’t notice the oncoming student until she crashed straight into them, her books falling to the ground with dull thumps.  
  
“I-I’m sorry!” she gasped, whirling around. A hand grabbed her arm, squeezing hard enough to keep her in place and to send the message that the person she had bumped into was no friend. They were much taller that she was – she could tell from the broad chest that her eyes were level with. A snicker from behind her told her they were not alone. With a glance of their tie, Hiyori’s heart beat faster with panic. Slytherins.  
  
“Fancy seeing you here, mudblood.”

Hiyori winced. That was their favourite name for her, these boys who had made habits of harassing her whenever they crossed paths. She asked Aimi what it meant the first time they called her it, earning loud shushing and vague, secretive answers.  
  
“Dirty blood,” Aimi had whispered sensitively. “Purebloods think muggleborns have mudblood because they aren’t, well, magic. There’s no such thing as pureblood anyway.”  
  
“What’s a little mudblood doing all alone in this  _scary_  part of the castle?” the student said mockingly voice, grinning like a cat who had watched its prey squirm a good deal before finally deciding to devour it. Hiyori’s voice dried up, fear kicking in and she tried to pull her arm away.  
  
Instead, she was pulled closer to the Slytherin and then shoved to the ground, her contents of her satchel spilling onto the floor. Her hair fell over her face, masking the tears that brimmed at the corners of her eyes as she heard her belongings being kicked across the hallway. The voice she had heard behind her began repeating a spell, making her flinch as she waited for something to happen to her, but nothing followed. Momentarily, heavy footsteps came behind her, stopping close enough for the person to lean down and whisper a threatening goodbye before leaving.  
  
Hiyori waited until the echoing of their shoes had left, but did not move until she had managed to stop her trembling shoulders. She reached out to grab a textbook that had been booted in her direction, forcing herself to hurry to class before she got in more trouble with her next teacher.

Frantically she began to pack the books away, tears blurring her vision enough so that she couldn’t see what the bullies had done to them. By the time her tears had cleared and she could see the final book she picked up, she noticed that black ink had permeated the cover and bled through into the text pages. A search of every book she checked in her bag showed the same treatment: one word stamped into every piece of parchment like a brand. Mudblood.  
  
Terrified, Hiyori stumbled to her feet and ran to the end of the hallway, a familiar spiral staircase leading her straight to Professor Kugaha’s Transfiguration class. She ducked into the classroom with a few straggling students before the class bell could signal she was late.  
  
“Hiyori!” Aimi hisses right as Hiyori slid into the seat beside her, calming her racing heart and trying to act like nothing had happened. Her hands shook slightly as she took off her robe and fixed her dishevelled hair, still shell-shocked at the encounter. Unknowing of her incident, her friends turned their attention to the Hiyori’s known-stalker.  
  
“You never told us you had a secret admirer~!” Yama, a love-struck Ravenclaw, swooned at the thought of a guy following the girl he likes. Aimi ignored her, flicking her yellow-black scarf over her shoulder in an effort to swat Yama’s sighing.  
  
Mortified, Hiyori stared at them as she recalled the previous incident before her run-in with the bullies. Even though he hadn’t been with them or actually done anything to her, she had hurt him and that was more than enough for a Slytherin’s wrath. But then again, her friends had never actually seen his face, nor did they know he was a Slytherin, let alone know the abuse she had been facing from that house.  
  
The thought sent a chill through her – she was being stalked by a Slytherin who probably wanted payback for the attempt on his life, and others who wanted her to disappear. And to make matters worse, one of them was friends with that Hufflepuff Yukine she befriended. He had probably told him everything about her by now. If the bullies could find out she was muggleborn, they might have already found out too.  
  
Of course, Hiyori said none of this, instead opting to take out her wand and place it carefully on the desk next to a small mouse cage that was already placed on the desk, careful to hid her vandalised books.  
  
“I’ve never seen him before in my life. He has the wrong person.”  
  
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before,” Yama mused, resting her chin on her hand and looking thoughtful as she tried to remember. Hiyori’s heart skipped a beat, dreading what she would say next. Did she know he was a Slytherin? Did she see his face on the day of the quidditch incident?  
  
“I’ve seen him outside my potions class with a Hufflepuff boy. Your admirer must be older than us, he’s so tall and handsome.” Yama dissolved into sighs again, hands squishing her reddened cheeks and her eyes going dreamy as she stared off into the distance, perhaps to imagine a future with Hiyori’s potential murderer. Hiyori let out a sigh of relief, her lips curving into a small smile. Of course Yama would only pay attention to how handsome someone was. She had no reason to fear exoneration from Hogwarts or a muggleborn-witchhunt.  
  
Their attention was snapped from the enigma of Hiyori’s admirer by Professor Kugaha tapping his wand on the desk.  
  
“Today we’re going to be transfiguring mice into goblets. Your homework was to master this spell. Now, begin,” he said bluntly, blue eyes grazing the classroom accusingly, seeking out any nervousness that hinted at failure to master the spell. Shuffling of robes and taps filled the room as students chanted ‘Vera Verto’ in different tones.   
  
“Hurry up and do the spell before Kugaha loses it,” Aimi hissed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She tapped her mouse three times and spoke the spell, successfully turning the rodent into a silver goblet. Yama followed suit, turning her golden hamster into a golden chalice. Hiyori looked at her mouse doubtfully. It didn’t seem very fair to do this to such a small creature.  
  
“Is there a problem, Miss Iki?” The professor had silently glided up to her, sly as a fox with an expression that matched the sneer in his voice. Hiyori swallowed quickly and shook her head, regretfully raising her wand to tap on the hunched mouse.  
  
“Vera Verto.”  
  
Yellow light exploded from the end of the wand with the sound of firecrackers causing half of the room to shriek, Hiyori included. In place of the mouse, a coarse-haired animal stood with its nose turned towards the witch, beady black eyes staring at her as it raised its black-white tail to expose itself to the enraged professor. Without a care, the creature – which Hiyori realised was a skunk – sprayed a foul mist of wretched odour into the classroom, and to her horror, onto the professor.  
  
Muffled shouts of students filled the classroom as they tried to blot out the smell with their robes and move farther away from the source of the stench. She did the spell perfectly, she was sure. Her wand had never done that kind of thing before…  
  
Behind her she could hear a small laugh, delicate and scornful. Hiyori tuned to look at the girl who watched her in amusement, her emerald tie and discreetly aimed wand under the desk telling her that yet another person had taken a disliking to her. Her grey eyes were dark enough to be mistaken for jet black like the colour of her hair if it weren’t for the daylight that filled the classroom, but they did not have a hint of warmth in them. Her attention was brought back by her classmates shouting words at the dazed Gryffindor she could not decipher.  
  
“EVANESCO!” Kugaha roared, the skunk vanished into nothing in an instant. He glared at Hiyori, her hands still clapped over her mouth as the smell lingered. His intense stare causing her to shrink back against the wooden pew under his hateful watch.  
  
“If you’re going to have the faintest hope of passing my class, you will do well to have magic before you try to use it.” His malevolent words cut through Hiyori as he sharply turned away to dismiss the class.  
  
Aimi and Yama remained seated with Hiyori as the hurried scuffling of chairs scraping against stone filled the room, their peers sprinting from the room. Professor Kugaha followed suit, sauntering out without an acknowledgement to the girls. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff looked at their friend sympathetically as they too covered their noses with their sleeves.  
  
“It could be worse,” Yama said brightly, although slightly muffled. “The skunk could’ve sprayed you.”  
  
  
~  
  
  
Yato’s hour-long search of the third floor proved fruitless; the girl had vanished entirely. He dawdled through the corridor, loitering outside the occasional classroom to check if he had missed any signs of her. Perhaps her class was on a different floor, Yato realised, agitated at his short-sightedness of only choosing to search one floor. The bell signalling the end of classes rang, leaving Yato clueless of where to look next; he didn’t even know where the puff was.  
  
He allowed the currents of students to sweep past him, jostling him with lumpy bookbags and foul cauldrons as they rushed to their next rooms. First years are the worst, Yato thought bitterly, watching the child-like witches and wizards push each other around playfully. He cut through them, his lean but tall frame shoving them out of his way to the window arch where he could sit until they cleared off. Columns of sunlight filtered in through silver clouds and onto Yato’s back, the dulling warmth telling him that winter was on its way.  
  
Already trees lost their evergreen colours and shed their leaves like dead skin, littering the courtyard and promenades as colder breezes swirled them in little tornadoes and scattered them like the clouds in the sky.  
  
The hallway gradually cleared. A few students hurried past, quick steps echoing in the dimming pathway, but one person stood in the walkway. A stolen glance made his heart skip at the sight of the girl who had short black hair. She watched him intently as he stood up and walked away, obviously blanking her as she began to follow his path.  
  
“Yaboku,” she said softly - almost caringly - bringing him to stop.  
  
“Nora,” he said curtly. He didn’t need to turn around to know she was now behind him despite the soundless way she moved.  
  
“Is that how you greet your family? You didn’t even come to see me on the first day. How cruel.”

Yato stayed silent, but this didn’t dissuade Nora. He didn’t even go to the Sorting Ceremony, he had no way of knowing she was here until that moment. Of course she had ended up in his house.  
  
“My new little snakes tell me you have gotten involved with mudbloods,” she said, carefully monitoring him. Yato turned his head slightly, disturbed at the suggestion she that had been watching him the whole time, and confused at the thought that he was associated with any mudbloods.  
  
“That little boy. He may be half but he may as well be mudblood. Blood traitors make mudbloods.” She simpered, waiting for Yato’s response. He gave none.  
  
“But the Gryffindor, Mudblood,” Nora continued, tilting her head to the side to study Yato’s reactionless expression. “Did you know? Of course not, you wouldn’t want to get involved with them after what you did.” She stepped back, half-turning away from him as she said her final message.  
  
“Father will hear about this.”  
  
Yato tensed, fingernails digging into his palms as he stood still in the hallway until he was sure she was gone. Yato realised he had never even bothered to find out anything about her, yet Nora had already gone as far as to find out, even if it was through her network of victims and co-conspirators. Mudblood, huh…?  
  
  
~  
  
  
Autumn crept in unnoticed save for the burnt orange leaves of the Forbidden Forest and colder days which kept students from spending their breaks lazing in the afternoon sun. Bundles of bright striped scarves could be seen covering the mouths and noses of students as they hurried to class, keeping their hands tucked inside their cloaks as they moved between the sheltered castle passages as quickly as they could. October had flashed by before Hiyori could register the near-beginning of November as Halloween arrived on a bleak, grey day. Varying shades of black and silver filtered the once blue sky as storm clouds threatened to pour their loads over the hillsides and castle turrets. It would be a stormy night.  
  
Classes dragged as teacher after teacher drawled on about the importance of certain magic and the basics of incantations before the first clap of thunder rumbled through the sky, instantly followed by a flash of lightning as the heavens opened. Quidditch practice was cancelled to the relief of the first years, allowing their school day to finish earlier than expected. Swarms of students divided after leaving the classroom, heading back to their common rooms to seek refuge from the coldness that swept through the castle and the howls of wind that made the torches shudder.  
  
Hiyori and Aimi bid farewell to Yama as she made her way to the Hufflepuff Basement – fitting for a house whose sigil was a badger. Hiyori and Aimi walked together, weaving through oncoming students as upperclassmen made their way to their next classes.  
  
“Is everything ok?” Aimi asked abruptly, glancing at Hiyori through her black framed glasses. She had picked up a knack for working out when something was bothering her friends. She also had a sensitive nature of not asking such questions around other people for their sake, which Hiyori was thankful for as the question had completely caught her off-guard.  
  
“I’m fine,” Hiyori said with a dismissive smile, focusing a little too hard on avoiding the bookbags and cauldrons of students who barged past them.  
  
“Did something happen before class, when you ran off?” Aimi persisted. “You had ink all over your hands and your hair is still a mess.”  
  
Hiyori hurriedly smoothed her hair down, pace quickening as the guilt of her secrecy crept up on her. She didn’t have to know, it was just boys and house rivalry and…muggleborn hatred.  
  
“I just dropped my inkpot when I was running to class, and it was windy so my hair got all tangled,” she lied brightly, reaching the end of the hallway that marked the split in their paths to Gryffindor Tower and Ravenclaw Tower. Wanting to end the conversation and forget what had actually happened, Hiyori quickly wrapped up the conversation before her friend could protest.  
  
“I’ll see you at the feast!”  
  
Hiyori took the stairs two at a time, not breaking pace until she had climbed the stairs to the top of the landing where the portrait of the Fat Lady greeted her. The password that had been selected for the day – Caput Draconis – allowed Hiyori back into her temporary home. Her housemates sat around in small groups talking or playing wizard chess. Others lay by the fire reading thick tomes for homework or to prepare for their O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T exams. The numerous portraits that adorned the common room were half-empty as their occupants had wandered into other frames to join in on games, or were nowhere to be found at all. Hiyori chose to go to the study area instead, favouring the quietness it provided over the homely attitude of the common room.  
  
The dark mahogany staircase wound up to the second floor of the tower which offered one of the best views in the whole castle. The area was abandoned except for one student who sat at a broad desk, piles of papers and books threatening to topple on top of her.  
  
She was the captain of Gryffindor’s quidditch team – a sport Hiyori would love to play when she moved into her second year. She was a beautiful girl with Rapunzel-like hair and violet eyes that reminded her of the fierceness of a lioness - Bishamon. She was only a second year, but already had command over the entire house as well as juggling her studies--a favourite among professors. She glanced up at the sound of Hiyori’s entrance, smiling and greeting her before ducking her head back down to dip her quill back into her inkpot and carefully write on the long piece of parchment that hung dangerously close to the lamp that lit her desk.   
  
Hiyori ditched her bag and perched herself in the window seat of the room with a book she had yet to study –  _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. It sounded interesting enough; she loved animals and the thought of a magical beast was exhilarating, but the events that occurred since she began her new life clouded her mind. She let the book rest open on her drawn-up knees, leaning back against the wall with her head turned to look out of the window. Torrents of rain continued to hammer against the window pane, obscuring the once clear view of the lake and rattling the glass with such force that it might have broken at any moment.  
  
“Somethings bothering you.”

Hiyori turned to the voice, seeing Bishamon had leaned back and slung an arm over the back of her chair, watching her peer closely.

“What is it?” Bishamon asked.  
  
“I’m fi–” Hiyori’s automatic response was cut off instantly. She could fool so many people: her friends, her teachers, even her family, but not Bishamon.  
  
“You say that every time I ask you, and that’s a lot of times. I know something is bothering you and you can’t hide it from me.” The matter-of-factness in her voice weakened Hiyori’s resolved secrecy, embarrassing her with the shame of her inability to solve her problems for herself.  
  
“Some guys messed up my books…I can’t fix what they did.”  
  
“Who were they?”  
  
“I don’t know, some Slytherin’s. Second years, probably…” Hiyori’s words died on her lips at the thunderous look which had clouded Bishamon’s face at the mention of their rival house. She abandoned her work, coming over to Hiyori’s side in an authoritative manner, no doubt expecting the worst.  
  
“Show me.”  
  
Hiyori stood up and collected her dampened satchel and cloak which lay crumpled on the floor, regretting that she hadn’t denied that there was a problem. Up-ending her bag onto an empty desk, pages of books flicked open to reveal the offensive word branded like iron of hide into every page. Bishamon pursed her lips, a storm ready to erupt from her mouth which would no doubt find the ears of the people who had done this to her lowerclassman. She crossed the room to her desk, blonde hair swishing violently as she turned back with a beautifully slim ebony coloured wand. Pointing at the heap of books, she chanted ‘Oblittero Mudblood’, making the once indelible ink fade from the textbooks leaving no evidence of the offending word.  
  
“Thank you…” Hiyori whispered, head bowed. Bishamon wrapped Hiyori into a hug, brief and comforting in tightness and scent. Although she hardly showed it, Bishamon was a softy at the best of times. She pulled away, hands on Hiyori’s shoulders as she gave her the same talk that Aimi had given her.  
  
“Slytherins know nothing about pure blood. Even the worst of the worst Slytherins ever were not ‘pure-blooded’.” Her thumb brushed against her fellow housemate’s cheek, eyes still fixed on her as she tried to make her point clear. “I’m going to sort this out. If anything ever happens again, tell me.”  
  
Hiyori gave a nod, reaffirming Bishamon’s confidence in consoling the girl that she was not worth any less than anyone believed. Bishamon returned to her desk and lost herself in he studies again, leaving Hiyori to resign herself to staring out of the window at the sheets of rain which washed the world into a dull shade of grey.  
  
Despite the promise of retribution and resolution, Hiyori’s hopes remained low at the prospect of the wizarding world ever accepting her as anything but a witch with dirty blood.  
  
  
~  
  
  
Evening brought no change to the already darkened sky which continued to unleash lashing rains as the storm increased, bringing gales of wind which snatched the woollen hats from students as they made their way to the Halloween feast. Hiyori let herself be carried by the students as they swept in from all directions to the Great Hall like a school of fish, admiring the new decorations that had been added to the hallways for the occasion. Bishamon strode in front of her, having declared to the younger girl that she would sit with Hiyori whenever possible to ward off any offending Slytherins. Although she was thankful, it was embarrassing that she couldn’t fend for herself at her age.  
  
A hand grabbed her from behind making her jump out of her skin and whirl around in alarm, only to find it was Yama grinning at her like it was Christmas.  
  
“Scared of Halloween?” she asked teasingly, pulling Hiyori to the side of the corridor. She glanced back at the wave of students, Bishamon’s figure barely visible as she failed to notice that Hiyori was no longer following her.  
  
“No. Why are we stopping, let’s go before the good seats go.” Hiyori said, trying to hide her worry of losing a place next to Bishamon as she grew smaller in the distance before vanishing altogether.  
  
“Aimi said she’ll meet us here, it’s fine,” Yama said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She leaned her shoulder against the alcove they had stooped into, folding her arms and taking up a serious expression. “Is everything ok?”

Hiyori’s heart jumped. A lot of people had been asking that recently, but even Yama had detected a change in her. Was it that obvious? Hiyori opened her mouth and closed it again. If she could tell Bishamon a bit of what had been happening, then surely she would be able to tell her friends.  
  
“I’m here.”

An interruption from Aimi snatched the opportunity for Hiyori to confess her problems, and an excuse to begin heading to the Great Hall where they wouldn’t be able to ask any more questions. She ignored Yama’s calls for an answer and Aimi’s confused questions, zigzagging through the crowd until she could see the wide-open doors of the feasting hall. Whilst everyone around her continued into the hall to join their house tables, Hiyori stopped as an unwelcoming scene greeted her at the entrance.  
  
Her heart faltered at the sight of her Slytherin stalker and his Hufflepuff compatriot stood next to the door, the former of the two scanning the crowd as they filtered into the hall past his watchful gaze. She had done a good job of avoiding him – the timing of her lessons and the moving staircases seemed to empathise with her as they changed so often that they never seemed to encounter each other since the day he chased her. She had tiptoed around and checked the hall for his increasingly familiar face, intent on making sure that he wouldn’t see her for as long as they graduated. Even if she did catch a glimpse of him on the odd occasion, she would vanish before he had the chance to turn around. But it seemed on this occasion, she had no chance of slipping past him.  
  
Assessing her choices, the best course of action was probably to get away and come back when he had given up, even if it meant she was late for the feast. Keeping her head low, she broke out of the crowd and began walking past the Great Hall’s doors without breaking pace. Even if she was out of place and stood out from the rest of the students heading in the same direction, she doubted that he would pay heed to a single person going elsewhere.  
  
“There she is.” A voice from someone she passed sent a shock through her system. The source of the voice was from Yukine, and from his gaze and pointed finger, the Slytherin had noticed her.  
  
Like a deer in the headlights, Hiyori turned and ran, pushing through the incoming students much to their indignation. The shouts of her pursuer were lost as she sprinted deep into the castle, not stopping until she careered into the safest place she could think of – the girl’s bathroom. Slamming the first cubicle door shut, Hiyori sat on the closed toilet lid and panted. Minutes passed as she tried to hush her breathing as she listened for any indication that he had found her. Silence.   
  
She leaned her head back against the wall, calming her racing heart for what seemed like an eternity before she heard a creaking door alerting her to the new presence in the bathroom. Grunting and shuffling filled the cavernous space as if someone were injured, concerning her at the prospect of whoever it was out there being alone and in need of help.  
  
Unlatching the door, Hiyori stepped out of her hiding place.  
  
  
~  
  
  
“Why does she keep running away?” Yato growled irritably, watching the girl vanish into the impassable swarm of students that wouldn’t break open a path for him.  
  
“Have you considered maybe it’s your inability to stop sweating?” Yukine said bluntly, turning and walking into the Great Hall, clearly done with Yato’s increasingly desperate – and failing – stalking habits.  
  
Yato slouched into the hall, taking a place at the end of the Slytherin table next to the entrance so he could catch the girl when she came back. The decorations of the hall were aptly decorated in the theme of Halloween. Black clouds floated in angry storms above their heads as if they had been taken from the real storm outside but lacked the rain, thunder and lightning which had persisted all day. A colony of bats had been conjured to brood above the students in the apexes of the arches which had been enchanted to look as if the ceiling was missing, only revealing the thunderous sky above. Carved pumpkins spotted between the golden plates and candelabras gave the feeling of the festivity of the feast as the candles that lit them wavered and threw misshapen shadows onto the wooden tables.  
  
The Gryffindor still hadn’t shown up as everyone was finally seated and Professor Tenjin began giving his usual spiel that he gave at every festive occasion before the feast began. Heaps of food piled themselves onto the once empty platters, students excitedly helping themselves to the new variety of food which were seldom served – pumpkin pie, candy corn, candy apples and all sorts of sweet things that the school would never have dreamed of dishing out as a regular meal. Yato’s distaste for sugary things made him hate the Halloween feast as his only options were pumpkin pie and a selection of pastries that didn’t appeal to him.  
  
A blur of motion hurdling through the entrance caught his attention – Kugaha, the professor that he had quite a bit of history with, sprinted through the row of tables and bellowed:  
  
“TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!”  
  


The hall fell into a deathly silence, stunned at the outburst as they stared at the professor as he heaved for breath, looking as if he was about to pass out from the sudden exercise.  
  
“Just thought you’d ought to know.” With a thwack, he did just that and collapsed in a dead faint. The students screamed in uproar, terrified as they scrambled over the benches and began running to the exit in a frenzy.  
  
“SILENCE!” Professor Tenjin bellowed, bringing the hall once again into a stunned silence. He kept his composure, continuing to address the room in a level-headed manner. “Prefects, escort your houses back to your dorms. Teachers will come with me to the dungeon.”  
  
The room was filled once again with commotion as prefects ordered their houses out of the room and directed them out and away from the feast. Yato stood up on the bench, ignoring the Slytherins knocking against his legs as he craned to look at the Gryffindor table. He hadn’t seen the girl come back, and she hadn’t run back in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, nor was she anywhere in sight as the clump of Gryffindor first years were personally herded by their prefect.  
  
Yato cursed under his breath, realising that she had run in the direction of the dungeon which was on the opposite side of the castle from her common room.

_She was running from me_ , he thought,  _that means she’s hiding somewhere._

Yato jumped down from the bench. The hall was nearly completely abandoned as the straggling students rushed after their housemates to the safety of their dorms.  
  
The teachers gathered at the high table to discuss some sort of troll-removal mission, oblivious to the remaining student as he ran in the direction of the dungeon. His footsteps resounded in the empty corridor as he dashed past closed classroom doors. The wind howled louder than ever, ripping through the windowless arches of the hallway and extinguishing the flaming torches that had finally lost their battle to keep the pathway illuminated. His sight was blinded as his dark hair tangled in front of his eyes, but he knew the path well enough to know where he was heading. As he rounded the corner which led to the dungeons, a high-pitched scream tore through the air behind him. He spun around, ears pricked as he tried to locate the source of the scream. A shattering sound twinned with another reverberating blood-curdling scream told him that the troll wasn’t in the dungeon anymore, and it wasn’t alone.  
  
  
~  
  
  
Hiyori stepped out of the cubicle, looking around the vast space for the source of the commotion. Her eyes swept around the emptiness of the room as she searched for the seemingly injured person until her gaze fell on the entrance where a figure stood. A huge figure.  
  
The stretched grey skin over its protruding belly was barely covered by the ragged leather. Its head was almost comically small for the sheer size of its frame, baldness showing big ears and tiny eyes that regarded her with the small attention-span it possessed. Its mouth hung open in a constant expression of confusion, discoloured wonky teeth showing its last meal had been something Hiyori didn’t want to know about.  
  
Its clubbed feet and horned toes dragged across the room towards Hiyori as she frantically ducked inside a toilet cubicle and locked the door. She fumbled desperately in her bag, grasping at books and quill feathers in increasingly frantic manner as she searched for her wand. The troll grunted dumbly trying to figure out where she had gone.  
  
As if making up its tiny mind, he raised his club and smashed it through the cubicles in an easy swing, sending wood splintering across the bathroom. If she hadn’t had ducked, Hiyori would’ve been dead before she could scream for help. Forcing herself to move despite the terror which had made her muscles rigid and her heart beat erratically, Hiyori stumbled over wooden shards that littered the ground and shattered porcelain as the troll advanced on her, club rising for another hit. Another swing brought the club crushing down on the sink basins, pieces of ceramics grazing her cheek as she threw herself to the ground with a scream, water sprinkling from the burst pipes as all paths of escape were effectively blocked off in the demolished bathroom.  
  
Hiyori shrank against the corner she had been forced into, the troll’s eyes gleaming as it snorted at its trapped prey and raised its club for a final aim. She squeezed her eyes shut, arms wrapped over her head as she crouched against the wall waiting for the finishing blow.  
  
“Affligo!”  
  
Hiyori’s eyes snapped open at the voice, head sharply turning to the exit where a familiar person stood with their wand drawn and aimed at the ogre. The same Slytherin that had been trying to talk to her. An invisible blow struck the back of the troll’s head but hardly had any effect. Instead it dumbly staggered around to turn its attention to the newcomer, forgetting its previous task entirely. With another motion he sent a flash of blue at the troll making it roar in frustration and pain.

“Come over here!” he shouted, craning his head around the trolls towering frame to make eye contact with Hiyori. Her mind had frozen completely, unable to comprehend what he had just said. She stared back at him, knees locked into their crouched position with her arms still covering her head, eyes widened in a silent cry for help – even if it were from a guy that was probably going to do something worse than this troll had in mind.

He gritted his teeth – either in anger or determination, she could not tell. The troll was almost upon him now, repeating the motion of lifting its long arm to smash down on whatever stood in its path.  
  
“Confringo!”  
  
A wave of fire ripped out of his wand and streamed up around the beast’s arm, engulfing it in a flash of heat causing it to drop its tree-trunk-like baton with a roar. Taking advantage of the distraction, the nameless Slytherin bolted through the troll’s legs straight at the girl, grabbing her wrist in an effort to pull along with him.  
  
“Move!” he yelled as he roughly yanked on her arm, but she didn’t respond out of shock at the mythical creature that had only come into her reality a few minutes ago, and was now taking several attempts on her life. Kneeling down in front of her with his grip still tight on her wrist, he turned her chin so that her eyes were averted from the sight of the creature beginning to lumber towards them, club once again in hand as it dragged against the stone floor, heavy footsteps and cracking wood resounding through the destroyed room.  
  
“We have to run,” he said urgently, voice not as loud as before as he noticed her balled fist shaking violently in his grip. Scratches had left fingernail-like marks over her cheeks. Wooden splinters littered her robes and hair. She was pale faced and breathing rapidly, staring back into his brilliant blue eyes as he talked her back to her senses. She gave a small nod, allowing herself to be pulled up. Her joints ached from being locked in such a hunched position but was given no time to adjust to the change in posture.  
  
“Run between its legs, I’ll distract it. Go!”

He released her wrist and pushed her forward, instantly firing spells at the ogre in a frenzied attack as the Gryffindor stumbled through its legs. Her bag lay in the ruins of the bathroom stalls which she rushed to grab, at last finding her wand and readying it to confront the troll before realising she had a limited grasp of attacking spells. Her stalker – or should she now say saviour? – was being pushed back by the troll until he was pressed against the wall like she was only moments ago, apparently taking her place so she could escape.  
  
The troll raised its club again, allowing no time for Yato to escape, or use any kind of magic strong enough to save himself from the crushing blow he was about to be dealt. The only spell that came to Hiyori’s mind that may save him was perhaps the stupidest spell she could cast in this situation.  
  
“Wingardium leviosa!” she rasped, finding her voice as she swished and flicked her wand at the troll’s descending club. The troll’s arm continued to fall, but the club remained levitating as if suspended by invisible cords. The increased magical power it took was exhausting for the beginner witch as she struggled to keep it from falling on the Slytherin’s head as he ducked between the ogres legs and attacked from behind, taking advantage of the troll’s confusion as it tried to figure out where its weapon had vanished to.  
  
He cast several more spells that Hiyori had never heard of – Incatena and Supplanto – which immediately bound the troll in chains and knocked it off balance, which in foresight was a good way to incapacitate the beast. But in hindsight it was clear that he realised his mistake as the troll turned and began toppling onto him, turning and throwing himself out of the way, taking Hiyori down with him as he pushed her out of the way. The troll hit the flagstones with a crunch of wood and a loud smack, knocking it out cold and leaving the bathroom silent save for the heavy breathing of both students.  
  
The boy had landed on top of Hiyori in his act of protection, leaving her trapped under him until he finally pushed himself up and rolled onto his back, coughing at the fine dust he had inhaled. Hiyori sat up and looked at the troll with apprehension, afraid that it would wake up at any moment. Her eyes slid back to her rescuer who was beginning to stand up, brushing off wood splinters and filth from his jumper with his wand still in hand.  
  
Hiyori scrambled to her feet at this observation, remembering the reason she ended up in the bathroom in the first place, and that there were no witnesses except him and her in this room. With the entrance now free she could escape before he could get his revenge, but her aching body prevented her from getting past her…rescuer?  
  
“I swear to god if you run off again I’m going to have to use that tripping jinx on you too.” His voice cut through the quiet of the bathroom, a threat made to sound like a joke. Hiyori looked up, noticing that he was now blocking the exit. To her surprise, he tucked his wand into his pocket, sharp eyes focused on her as she stood unsurely between him and the unconscious troll – between a rock and a hard place as they would say.  
  
“Why do you keep running away?” he asked.  
  
“Why do you keep following me?” Hiyori shot back. Her flight or fight instinct kicked in, the latter of the two being the only option as she was kept hostage by him.  
  
“You never said sorry for nearly killing me with a broomstick,” he replied breezily. Hiyori flinched, remembering the first time they met. He continued regardless of her cringe. “And you won’t talk to me, so what’s a guy meant to do?”  
  
“Leave me alone? Stop chasing me? Stop saying I don’t belong here?” Hiyori bit back, the last suggestion leaving her lips before she could stop it. She turned her face away, waiting for him to say something or do something to remind her of what his classmates said she was.  
  
“I don’t care if you’re a mudblood,” he said.

Hiyori recoiled at his usage of the word, seeing his nose wrinkled in what she thought looked like distaste. Her blood boiled at the casual way he called her such a horrible name, his ignorance apparent for what people like him had put her through since she arrived at the school she had only dreamt of before it became a reality.  
  
“I am sick of hearing Slytherins tell me that I’m a mudblood who doesn’t deserve to be here!” Hiyori erupted, tears springing to her eyes as she let the anger that had been building up over the last few months loose on the one Slytherin that had been annoying enough to deserve what she had to say about his house, even if he did just save her from becoming a troll meal.  
  
“I’ve been pushed, tripped, had my stuff ruined, been followed around by you and now Yukine turns out to be working for you too! If I don’t have magic, then why am I here?! How did I just save you if I’m just a mudblood?!”

The boy blurred in front of her as her tears clouded her eyes and ran down her cheeks, the anguish she had been feeling triggered by such a small, off-handed comment about him not caring about where she came from… _oh._ _  
_  
Shame rose in her chest as she dragged the back of her hand over her eyes to wipe away tears which smudged the dirt streaks and smeared drops of blood across her face. She looked at him with feigned composure, chin tilted in defiance as she waited for his reply. What she didn’t expect was to see him looking so shocked, or so guilty of making this girl cry.  
  
“I’m sorry I called you a mu--the M-word,” he said cautiously, not wanting to cause any more offense now that he finally had her talking to him. Who knew they were so sensitive over that word? “Blood type doesn’t matter. If you’re a witch then you’re a witch, plain and simple. Some people don’t get that – my ‘pureblood’ house being ‘some people’.”  
  
He leaned against the door, arms folded across his chest. “Permit me, may I ask your name since we were never acquainted?”  
  
It was Hiyori’s turn to be surprised at his diplomacy, his acceptance of the injustice, and his apology. He genuinely didn’t seem to hate her for being a muggleborn, instead he was interested in her and just wanted to talk.  
  
“… Hiyori Iki. And you?”  
  
“Yato.” He flashed her a winning smile, internally cheering at his successful attempt of actually getting a real answer. The sensation of his back support surprised him as the door was suddenly yanked open, leaving Yato with nothing to keep him propped up as he fell flat on his back.

Professor Tenjin and Professor Tsuyu stared down at him before looking around at the destroyed bathroom, where Hiyori stood small against the heap of troll as water sprinkled from burst pipes onto the carnage of their battle.  
  
“Good evening, Professors,” Yato said with a cocky grin, giving a small salute with two of his fingers. “I can explain everything.”

**Author's Note:**

> Caput Draconis means ‘Dragon’s Head’  
> Vera Verto - Transforms an animal into a water goblet  
> Evanesco - makes an object vanish  
> Affligo - Strikes a person, as if a blow were made.  
> Confringo - Blasting fire spell  
> Wingardium Leviosa - Levitates an object  
> Incatena - Summons chains that immediately bind the victim. A stronger form of Incarcerous.  
> Supplanto (The Tripping Jinx) - Trips the victim.


End file.
